So, this is actually a bit of a montage of the people I have run into over the past few months. There is nothing quite like impact of human interaction.
I must tell you of one of the most touching interactions between a man and a woman that I have ever had the great fortune to witness. It was an older african american man, and an elderly caucasian woman. She came strolling his way, and his face lit up, as if the sun had leaned down and kissed it. Both of their eyes lit up when they saw each other. The twist... they were two homeless individuals on the streets of San Francisco. As the old woman approached with her shopping cart full of knick-knacks, the man jumped up from his post on the street corner, straightened out his tattered clothing as best as he could, and extended his arm in the most gentlemanly fashion to the nearest trash can, as if it were a chest full of royal gemstones. One by one, he pulled out the precious soda cans that he had been hoarding up for her. With childish glee, the two rejoiced over their shared treasures, not even noticing the rest of San Francisco whizzing by.
The second notable meeting was with a precious woman named Colleen. When I think about what a Christian, ideally, should look like, she is it. My sister and I were eating out with a friend at a great vegetarian cafe called Grilla Bites, and Colleen was our server. She was very friendly, and provided great service. The friend we were with had left lunch a bit early to return to work, so my sister and I hung out a while longer, and got a smoothie. As we started walking towards the parking garage, we realized that my sister had left the keys to our rental car in her trench-coat, which was left in our friend's car. So there we were, on vacation in NorCal, with dying cell phones, wondering how far a walk it would be to the nearest bus station, when Colleen (who had overheard our predicament while she was at the bar eating during her lunch break) offered to take us to our friend's car to get the keys. It felt a little strange accepting a ride from a total stranger, but she just seemed so sweet. Not only did she give us a ride to our friend's car, but she even drove us back to our rental car. It turns out, she not only serves at the restaurant, but she and her husband are the owners of the cafe. During the car ride she shared about her life and how she and her husband are also really involved in helping out the homeless in the community. In fact, they let one homeless guy sleep in the cafe after closing time. She says he is very protective of the place, and will even lock up for them at night, and report any strange going ons. What struck me most of all, was her incredible humility and love for the people around her. Even complete strangers like us. I think I wanna be like that.
Finally, my night with the European au pairs!
Many of the children at the school where I work have parents who both work full time jobs. Therefore, most of them have foreign nannies or au pairs. There was one in particular who hung around after school, letting the kids play on the playground before taking them home. Her name was Theresia. She looked a bit lonely, so I struck up a conversation with her, and was delighted that she was so quick to open up. She came here from Germany right after finishing school, and hadn't had much opportunity to make many friends in the States. We made it a habit to chat whenever I brought my aftercare kids to the playground, and talked a lot about our cultural differences, as well as our shared experiences. Obviously, there were limitations in our conversations due to her limited vocabulary, but overall, I was very impressed by her English. About a month after we met, she invited me to her goodbye sleepover party. She was heading back to Germany, and even though we hadn't known each other for very long, she wanted a chance to hang out in a fun, relaxed setting with the few friends she had made here. Most of them were au pairs from overseas, like her. I agreed, then wondered just what sort of people I would be spending the night with. "Are they crazy partiers? Do Europeans sleep in the nude? What do Europeans think of Asians?"
It turns out, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. They were all great people, with a love for fun and laughter. There were two more girls from Germany, one girl from Austria, One from Columbia, one guy from Denmark, and another guy who wasn't actually an au pair, but was friends with all the au pairs. We played Twister, ate Goodbye cake, and played a hysterical game of hot tub "Never Have I Ever" (which the Columbian girl could never say right) where instead of shots, the losers had to face consequences like having ice cream smeared all over your face then getting hosed off, having to get out of the hot tub and hugging the dry people, and one guy had to endure a full make-over.
So the lesson I learned from that experience was this: You do not need to speak the same language in order to enjoy a beer together, and laugh at people doing stupid stuff.
I love all my friends and family, but every once in a while, it's really great to see the world through another's eyes. Someone who doesn't necessarily agree with your politics or share your background. But if you can just find even one connection with that person, it's a connection worth making :)
